The ''Café du Croissant'' or ''Crosse du Croisant'' (today the ''Taverne du Croissant'') is a

café A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café (), is an establishment that serves various types of coffee, espresso, latte, americano and cappuccino, among other hot beverages. Many coffeehouses in West Asia offer ''shisha'' (actually called ''nargi ...

in the 2nd arrondissement of

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, France. It is famous for having been the place of the assassination of

Jean Jaurès Auguste Marie Joseph Jean Léon Jaurès (3 September 185931 July 1914), commonly referred to as Jean Jaurès (; ), was a French socialist leader. Initially a Moderate Republican, he later became a social democrat and one of the first possibi ...

Raoul Villain Raoul Villain (19 September 1885 – 17 September 1936) was a French French nationalism, nationalist. He is primarily remembered for his assassinated, assassination of the French socialist leader Jean Jaurès on 31 July 1914, in Paris. Villain w ...

on 31 July 1914. On 20 February 1938 the owner, Albert Wiedmer, donated the marble plaque of the table on which Jaurès was assassinated to the municipality of

Champigny-sur-Marne Champigny-sur-Marne (, literally ''Champigny on Marne'') is a major city in the region of Île-de-France, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. Name Champigny-sur-Marne was originally called simply Champigny. The name Champigny ultim ...

at the request of the city's mayor Albert Thomas, a friend of Jaurès. It was classified as a

Historic Monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, historical ...

object in 1988. Yet the waiters still have the patrons believe the café has kept the original table with a dark stain on a brighter wood that is said to be Jaurès's blood. The assassination is still remembered in the café: in 1923, a commemorative plaque was added to the façade by the Human Rights League; a red and golden floor mosaic shows the date of Jaurès's death and the exact place where he fell. Additionally, a window shelters a part of Jaurès's chair, his hat with a bullet inside, and the two front pages of the newspaper ''

L'Humanité (; ) is a French daily newspaper. It was previously an organisation of the SFIO, ''de facto'', and thereafter of the French Communist Party (PCF), and maintains links to the party. Its slogan is "In an ideal world, would not exist." History ...

'' of 31 July and 1 August 1914. On 31 July 1984 President

François Mitterrand François Maurice Adrien Marie Mitterrand (26 October 19168 January 1996) was a French politician and statesman who served as President of France from 1981 to 1995, the longest holder of that position in the history of France. As a former First ...

visited the ''Café du Croissant'' to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the assassination. In a radio show, he told that in 1934 he had rushed to the café to pay tribute to Jaurès. The establishment was re-opened in 2011 as the ''Taverne du Croissant''. On 31 July 2014 President

François Hollande François Gérard Georges Nicolas Hollande (; born 12 August 1954) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2012 to 2017. Before his presidency, he was First Secretary of the Socialist Party (France), First Secretary of th ...

and Germany's Vice-Chancellor

Sigmar Gabriel Sigmar Hartmut Gabriel (born 12 September 1959) is a German politician who was the Federal Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2017 to 2018 and the vice-chancellor of Germany from 2013 to 2018. He was Leader of the Social Democratic Party of Germa ...

visited the café upon the centenary of the assassination of Jaurès. The restaurant offered a special dinner menu for the centenary.

References

{{commons category, Café du Croissant Coffeehouses and cafés in Paris Buildings and structures in the 2nd arrondissement of Paris Jean Jaurès